I developed this idea whilst working as a Camp Leader at Blue Star Camps, North Carolina for five years, hence its name. For several of those years, one of my primary roles was to mix and occupy approximately 300 staff for an hour or so, all at the same time, as part of the staff training program of ‘evening entertainment.’
My first job was to list a bunch of short, often energetic and very fun tasks that were ideal for a bunch of randomly formed small groups or teams to accomplish together, eg shake the hands of at least three people in another group.
There is no shortage of zany activities you could come up with, but if you’re not sure where to start, click here to view a list of 30+ options to whet your appetite.
Next, you want to build the biggest paper game board you have ever seen, complete with squares that run around the perimeter of a game board, not unlike the commercial board game Monopoly. I used long strips of roll-paper, taped together to create four corners and then painted a series of lines to create the squares.
Inside each square, I painted a large number, and on every third or fourth square I painted the word “ACTIVITY.” Thinking back, I reckon the board had close to 60 squares and there were 20 or so that were devoted to small group activities.
To help imagine what I’ve just described, have a look at the sample game board I have included in the Resources tab.
For added effect, I also created and painted a number of square cardboard boxes to look like huge dice. Regular playing dice work fine, of course, but I figured that if everything else was going to be as large as life, the dice should be too.
Once you have these two arduous tasks out of the way, you are ready to go.
Lay the paper game board on the floor of your rather expansive indoor arena. Once your group gathers, separate them into a number of small teams of 8 to 12 people, perhaps adopting one of the random mixing strategies as described in Getting Into Teams.
As these teams form, ask them to gather and sit outside the perimeter of the game board.
Place a few (big) dice in the centre of the board (to be shared by all groups,) and distribute a list of activities to a nominated ‘leader’ (perhaps volunteer your colleagues) who will supervise each team.
Before starting, distribute or ask each team to offer a unique object that can be used to identify their position on the game board, eg hat, shoe, toy, etc. To spread the energy of each group – at least in the beginning – I strongly recommend that you also direct each team to start from a different square of the board.
For example, if your game board has 60 squares and you have 10 teams, start one team about every 6 spaces apart on the board.
When ready, announce that each team will be invited to move their token as many times around the game board by rolling the dice and moving the corresponding number of spaces forward. All teams start at the same time so there is no waiting for turns, although on occasions some teams may need to wait to roll the dice, ie presuming you have fewer dice than teams.
Explain that every time a team lands on an “ACTIVITY” square, their leader will consult the list and announce the activity identified by that number, eg when a group lands on square #26, they will be invited to complete the corresponding activity on the list.
Upon accomplishing this fun task, the team will be entitled to roll the dice again.
Naturally, if the team lands on an empty square, they simply roll the dice again to progress forward.
This progression of activity may continue for a specific length of time – 45 minutes – or every team continues to rotate around the board until the first team announces that they have completed every activity on their list. Or, more likely, the game comes to a natural pause because everyone is knackered!
I have never seen this activity fail to deliver extraordinary results. Key to these outcomes has been the opportunity to mix, interact and enjoy an outrageously fun time together.
This game sounds fun. Do all the teams play at the same time? I’m thinking about doing this with a group of students, with prizes for groups for things other than finishing first. Or perhaps in the processing part after the game, having each team discuss the name of the prize their group should have won (Most Improved, Worst Singers, Terrible with Dice, etc.).
Yes, all teams play at the same time, that’s the idea so your whole group is occupied simultaneously. I like your ideas for rewarding teams for feats other than being first!
Played this with a group of 20 youths with great success. Definitely lots of energy, that didn’t run dry for the hour! It was surprising how consistently both groups progressed through the challenges, with a very tight finisher! (We went for ‘First past the post’ variation).
Had a list of 20 activities to complete and it took just under an hour.
Can recommend!
This gives me so much joy to hear this news and reaction to what is definitely a big-time fave of my groups over the years. Well played Liz.